Review: To Serve the Count by Cassandra Pierce

Reviewed by Fehu
To Serve the Count (Proud to be a Vampire) by Cassandra Pierce
Less Than Press
Short Story
2.75 Pants Off

Blurb:
Cast out of his village when he is caught kissing another man, Rupert seeks refuge at the mysterious Castle Blutstark. But refuge means carrying out unusual duties for his new master, the enigmatic Count Kaspar, and he starts to wonder if Blutstark is a place of safety after all.




Review
Well written, but the characters were a bit too simplistic as was the plot.

The story was quite simple: a boy gets kicked out of his village and flees to a castle to find work. There is a vampire who takes notice of the boy and invites him to his bed and to be his blood donor. Said boy had a lover, who followed him, had known the lord to be a vampire, unlike the naive boy and who wants to take the vampires riches and kill him, by using the unsuspecting boy.

That is also what happened, very fast paced, no time left for a lot of explanations or normal human reactions. If you ever find out about vampires, would anyone, especially a boy from a backward village, be so blasé about it, in a historical time setting? I find that hard to believe!

Rupert, the boy or youth in question was generally acting a bit like a modern spoiled brat. He ran away from his home, the whole dialog with his father didn't have the historical feeling, his actions were too bold for a young character with his background and he could not have honestly expected anyone in a historical period after the French Revolution to be ok about gay tendencies, when people were hanged for such tendencies in the past!

I thought he took the whole vampires exist and why not just let the guy, you known a day drink your blood and have sex with him. There is fast and then there is swearing your love after a few days acquaintance, which happened here.

I liked the writing style, but the story and the characters just didn't have any depth and were very predictable.

Review: Omorphi by C. Kennedy

Omorphi by C. Kennedy
Harmony Ink Press
Novel: 448pgs
2.75 Pants Off

Blurb:
High school senior Michael Sattler leads a charmed life. He’s a star athlete, has great friends, and parents who love him just the way he is. What’s missing from his life is a boyfriend. That’s a problem because he’s out only to his parents and best friend. When Michael accidentally bumps into Christy Castle at school, his life changes in ways he never imagined. Christy is Michael’s dream guy: smart, pretty, and sexy. But nothing could have prepared Michael for what being Christy's boyfriend would entail.

Christy needs to heal after years of abuse and knows he needs help to do it. After the death of his notorious father, he leaves his native Greece and settles in upstate New York. Alone, afraid, and left without a voice, Christy hides the myriad scars of his abuse. He desperately wants to be loved and when he meets Michael, he dares to hope that day has arrived. When one of Michael’s team-mates becomes an enemy and an abuser from Christy’s past seeks to return him to a life of slavery, only Michael and Christy's combined strength and unwavering determination can save them from the violence that threatens to destroy their future together.

Review
I am struggling how to approach this review because the book deals with such a sensitive and hard hitting topic. On one hand it’s easy to believe what was done to MC Christy because lets be real human can be great asshole and we hear about the nasty that can be done to innocent lives. So while Christy's abuse tore at my heart it’s the overall events of this book that I have a problem with.

Michael is believable as the closeted athlete and him falling for the beautiful Christy is quite nice and Christy being equally drawn to Michael. Its apparent from the get go that Christy has a lot to get over but Michael is already half in love and is willing to stick by him. It’s all so sweet already and I was thinking how much I was going to love it just reading about Michael loving Christy and finally making him feel safe. Well...things sort of went downhill for me when crazy starting coming from every side and it turned into a Final Destination (everyone must go) type of thing.

It's like whatever bad thing I was thinking would happen does, and my eye roll numerous came out in full swing. I can believe in a crazy homophobe but not 25 of them (gross exaggeration) and with a car bombing, Christy in flames, dead squirrels in lockers, gun being pulled at a club, near drowning, attack with a bat, death threat phone calls, I was over it. Its either everything was really good or very bad and I could not find a balance.

I'm all about overcoming and empowering characters but all the theatrics took away from me really enjoying this one. My highlights were the interactions between Michael and Christy, their dialogue and Christy's strength made this not totally horrible for me to read. Again, really sensitive and hard hitting content but the crazy that ensues kind of made what happened and what was happening to Christy feel light and I am sure that was not the overall intent.

Should You Read It? I can't really call this one because again I stand as the odd one out with my feelings. Omorphi just did not work for me on a number of levels but it might be the book for you (to each his/her own).

SideNote: I am a fan of a boy that dresses up and plays with gender that wins everytime.


DarienMoya

Review: Horizons by Mickie B. Ashling

Horizons (2nd Edition) by Mickie B. Ashling
Dreamspinner Press
Novel: 250pgs
2.75 Pants Off

Blurb:
College football player Clark Stevens, a popular wide receiver with a potential NFL contract, has a few problems. He's got a jealous girlfriend, a narrow-minded and controlling father, an attention problem, and an unexpected and powerful attraction to the trauma doctor—the male trauma doctor—who treats him for a broken bone.

Dr. Jody Williams is getting some really mixed signals. He can't ignore how much he wants Clark, because it's obvious Clark feels the same way. For the out and proud doctor, the solution seems very simple. For Clark, it's not! His world is not gay-friendly, and the obstacles he's faced have led him to deny his sexuality for years.

It's the Super Bowl of disasters, no matter how you look at it. In the end, Clark has to decide if he's going to stick with the only life he's ever known or take a chance on a new one with Jody.

Review:
I became a fan of Mickie B. Ashling after reading Loving Edits, which happens to be one of my fave ménages out there. Then the awesome continued with Tono, so of course I was totally down with reading Horizons the blurb sounded interesting enough but what sounded interesting soon started to fizzle and I was left all kinds of disappointed.

Clark Stevens is a star football player at his college; he's so fantastic that the NFL is most definitely in his future. Too bad he's miserable, with his grades at failing and constantly feeling miserable all the time and Clark is at his breaking point. What he does is lash out and his temper lands him a broken arm and a date in the E.R. What Clark doesn't expect is his instant attraction to doctor Jody Williams, he's kept that part of himself buried tight and wrapped up, but now he's flirting with the doctor but Clark knows that being gay and football just doesn't go hand in hand. Yet, he keeps seeking out the company of the sexy doctor and doing this sexual tension filled dance around each other. Things get more intense when Jody decides to tutor Clark in English and their attraction cannot he denied.

Clark comes with a series of problems, a girl he sleeps with occasionally to show his heterosexuality, a father that’s more of a bully than anything else, and the fact that he feels like an idiot pretty much all the time. Alas, he has Jody a man he's a falling in love with and finally realizing how much happier he is now that he's being honest with what his body wants. Too bad he's gotta stay in the closet until he figures out how to come out without losing everything, because though his new found honesty is exhilarating letting the world know could cost him everything.

First, these guys are like the Canadian weather; one minute they're hot and the next a cool front moves in out of nowhere. They're happy and in the next minute there is tears and them having all the feels. Realistically I can understand Clark's fear of being outed when he's not ready but dude was just setting the trap for a whole bunch of hurt. Obviously, he wanted to come out so his later "lets protect Jody from my crazy father" was just a little too late cus dude was asking for it. Jody...for a doctor he is a darn fool sometimes, I get that love makes you do crazy things but I was not impressed with most of his decisions. Like yeh, these guys fuck all amazing but otherwise I just couldn't get a handle on them (cloudy with a chance of mood swings).

Mostly everyone in this book is sort of annoying with the exception of Jody's best-friend who I really liked. Clark's parents especially his dad should have called it quits with being a parent, his adult status has surely gone up in flames. Clark likable, but his constant self pity was a bit annoying, Jody also likable but easily forgettable. I just couldn't read this one without eye-roll numerous and in the end I was disappointed. Not a good read for me, but I am usually impressed with this author work so overall "it just wasn't the right read" for me.

Should You Read It? *sound of crickets* to each his own I say, this one didn't work for me but I did get through it quickly. In all honesty the pacing is good; I just didn't enjoy the overall story. HEA was too neat, in a perfect world it’s awesome but I didn't find it believable.

Review: Bestiary Volume #4 (Take 1)

Reviewed by Fehu
I is for Imp by India Jackson
Less Than 3 Press
Short Story
3.75 Pants Off

Blurb:
Donavan is a lowly thief, scraping by picking pockets with the help of Oriax, an imp he once helped and who now is his companion on the streets. When they learn of a tournament that is to take place a few days away, they cannot resist the opportunity. But their hopes of easy gold are soon shattered by an unexpected and dangerous presence …




Review:
This one is for fans of fantasy with a medieval feeling! It's actually my favourite story in this bundle and it would have been nice if it were a bit longer, with some more background information about the knights.

First of all the story reminded me a bit of a fantasy game, the knight who fights for the king, an evil spirit haunting the castle, who turns out to be in the ruler. Now doesn't that sound a bit like something of Final Fantasy? And so the adventure begins with a thief, Donovan and his imp Oriax, though the thief doesn't exactly know that he has an imp, who perform on stage and while they distract the people with magical tricks, one of them can go and steal the money from their audience.

After they are robbed Donovan and Oriax agree to participate in the Jester tournament of the King, to their surprise they meet one of the holy Paladin Knights, and understandable Oriax is not happy about that meeting. With their tricks Donovan gets the position of the court Jester and it's not an offer he can refuse. What he doesn't know, is that there have been some problems in the castle and that something evil dwells in it, which is also the reason the Paladin was there, who is paying quite a lot of attention to Donovan, but it might not be for the reasons one would assume.

While I would love to have some more background in formation, the story itself is nicely paced. The characters are entertaining and the romance is very light. I enjoyed the fantasy game feeling of this one and if one wants to read a short,  well written fantasy, then this one is just the thing!

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Across Borders by Alex Powell
Less Than 3 Press
Short Story
2. 75 Pants Off

Blurb:
In an effort to help mend a long-standing rift between the Shui-long dragon clan and the Ceffyl Dŵr, Xin-jian reluctantly agrees to be the ambassador for the dragons and spend time amongst the Ceffyl Dŵr. The enemy he comes to know is nothing like he expected, however, especially Tiernan. But before he can truly begin to explore peace, he must stop those who will not give up the old hatreds.




Review:
Xin-jian is from a rare breed of dragons and the foster brother to the dragon princess Mai-hua. When the princess is attacked by Ceffyl Dŵr, their old enemy, he meets his match. Surprisingly Xin learns that the princess wanted to have peace talks and it's the presence of her brother, who followed her, that provoked the attack. Even more surprising is that the Ceffyl actually is not against peace between their two races, would even welcome it, at least that's what Xin and Mai-hua find out, when they visit the Ceffyl's lands. It's not after their meeting with the dragon Emperor that they find out why there is a conflict and why he doesn't wish for peace.

The beginning is quite promising, a battle, two enemy races facing each other sadly that doesn't last. I had hoped for enemies to lovers and this might be the case it term that the two races are enemies. Xin's mate fights against him in the beginning but they fall in love pretty quickly, so the enemy part is mostly superficial. The story is fast paced on the one hand, but I felt that it was progressing too fast, while not really allowing for character development. Mostly all falls into place and the evil Emperor is very predictable. Also I didn't really like the characters; they felt a bit flat to me.

Review: Shy by John Inman

Reviewed by Fehu
SHY by John Inman
Dreamspinner Press
Novel: 256pgs
2.75 Pants Off

Blurb:
Dating is hard enough. Throw in an incontinent Chihuahua, an unrequited love affair, a severe case of social anxiety disorder, a dying father, and a man-eating hog and it becomes darned near impossible. Still, it takes two to tango—and when Tom Morgan, a mild-mannered assistant bank manager with a debilitating case of shyness, meets Frank Wells, who is straight off the farm and even shyer than he is, sparks start flying.

Just when Tom and Frank’s burgeoning love affair is rolling along nicely, Frank must return to Indiana to oversee the farm while his father battles cancer. Tom tags along to help Frank out and finds himself slopping hogs and milking cows and wondering what the hell happened to his orderly citified existence. And what’s with all the chickens? Tom hates chickens!

With Frank’s help, Tom grits his teeth and muddles through. Funny what a couple of guys can accomplish when they’re crazy about each other. Not even nine hundred chickens can stand in the way of true love.

Review:
Be prepared! I'm trying to explain my experience with this book! :) Some books, either work for me or they don't and this one didn't work out for me, which is not to say that it won’t be a good book for someone else.

It all started on Christmas Eve, when I decided to give this book a go in between meal preparation and the waiting time, when I just have to watch the cake and the duck not to burn. So there I was, me and Shy, the cover was interesting and promised some humour and entertainment, as did the blurb of the book.

A city boy on a farm (happens in part 2) sounded amusing, right? However, there are some other things happening first. For one we meet Tom, who is still hung up on his ex, who cheated on him and then dumped him. Tom is also still on friendly terms with the jerk and going to his and the new boyfriend, Stanley's party. The party part doesn't sound so bad, one might say, well, it is for Tom, who has a social anxiety disorder, short SAD, parties, in general scare him sh...well you know. Oh, and Tom has a pet in this book, the pet, a Chihuahua, who is not only mentioned but really is a part of the book, so bonus points for that!

How did Tom end up on a Farm in Indiana? Well, enter Frank farm boy from Indiana, with an ill father who also has SAD, is even shyer than Tom and is Stanley’s brother; yes that boyfriend thieving Stanley. Now, Stanley is clearly the bad guy in this book and he does get what he deserves, somewhat. ;) I actually liked the boys standing up for themselves to him after he embarrassed them, where he could at his party. Being the "caring" brother that he is Stanley lets Tom deal with his visiting brother and of course, they end up falling in love with each other.

What worked for me:

- Sex scenes were pretty hot, like losing your pants hot!

-It's well written and has a plot, it's not just all sex and more sex, I usually enjoy a plot in a romance book.

-The animals were not just for show but well worked into the plot. Not all books do that, some mention a dog and at the end, you ask yourself if it has died of neglect and starvation, while the hero was off solving crimes or acquiring new lovers, not here.

- There is humour, if you like, poop jokes and general don't mind the gross kind of things happening, like the Chihuahua, pooping or peeing, when it's worked up or unhappy. The dog did have it’s moments, I liked him and the chips, mainly because of a friendly Chihuahua I know and love, who would act the same. (Meaning eat the fallen goodies and trying to snap at everything that comes in its path, to the food)

And here we are on the parts that didn't work for me:

- The word "poop" is used a bit too often, while it might, and I'm stressing the word might here, been fun the first two time, it's not if it's used like a dozen of times in the first chapters already.

- Instant love. I love you pops out on their second day of knowing each other, so they fall in love in 24 hours. Hard to believe this of two people who hardly talked to each other at first.

- Predictable, no really, two guys with the same disorder meet and fall in love with each other, father's illness is mentioned so I was expecting the call for Frank to come back or have to move back to manage the farm. Stanley is also predictable and it's all black and white Frank is the good son, Stanley is the bad guy and not redeemable, without any facets in character.

- SAD played a big part in the first part of the book and not so much in the second.

- Characters, well mostly Tom ramble and while I don't mind snarky ramblings, it grates if it happens a lot.

Question I asked myself: Why would someone stay friends with the ex who a.)Cheated and b.)Dumped him?

Heck, why go to the said ex party, if you know the current boyfriend will do everything that he can to embarrass you, especially if one has SAD.

So, should you read this book? Honestly, you might want to, because tastes differ and this book has good points, I mentioned them, and is written nice enough not to pass.